DEQ Deserves Our Thanks!

Our hard work is paying off! Contact the DEQ and tell them to move ahead with shutting down the dirty Boardman coal plant by 2015!

In the last few months hundreds of people have attended hearings and thousands of comments have been submitted demanding that we phase out Oregon’s largest stationary source of toxic air pollution and greenhouses gases, the Boardman coal plant.

Now thanks to all that we’ve accomplished together there has been significant progress to move beyond coal in Oregon!

Earlier this month the Oregon Department of Environment Quality (DEQ) rejected Portland General Electric’s plan to avoid its legal responsibility to control the pollution emitted from the coal-fired power plant.

The DEQ has heard our concerns over the dangerous levels of pollution coming from the Boardman coal plant and it has given PGE three options for closing down the coal plant that involve much tougher pollution standards than what PGE proposed.

One of the options that the DEQ has put forth is to close the plant as early as 2015.

While the Boardman coal plant can be shut-down by 2014 in a reliable and cost-effective way, we do support option 3 which closes the plant as early as 2015 and will ensure that our health and environment are protected while avoiding the costs of expensive pollution controls that would be passed on to ratepayers.

We applaud the DEQ for proposing an option which provides the best path forward for PGE rate-payers and all who live and breathe in Oregon. This is positive and important progress on the way to a cleaner, healthier and safer coal-free future in Oregon.

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